Charmed: The Power of Four with a Twist
by RHatch89
Summary: Xander is the fourth child and only son of Patty Halliwell and Victor Bennett. He is Patty's fifth child total, as found it in season four. As this story starts it is 1998.
1. Chapter 1 Something Wicca This Way Comes

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed or Buffy... sigh... :D Note this has heavy canon dialogue.

A/N: Xander is the fourth child and only son of Patty Halliwell and Victor Bennett. He is Patty's fifth child total, as found it in season four. As this story starts it is 1998. Prue is 27 going on 28 (b.1970), Piper is 25 (b.1973), Phoebe is 23 (b.1975), and Xander is 18 (b.1980, and is college cause I like smart Xander, and I am God :D). I pushed Patty's death to 1982 to keep with the original plot. There will be some Buffy/Angel stuff later on in the story, but it will keep with the flow of Season 1 of Charmed, with minor changes here and there. For all intent and purpose, Buffy would still be in season three, and probably won't be introduced until the next story.

~San Francisco, California 1998~

The small pitter-patter of padded paws scurried across the apartment floor as a blonde woman in her mid-twenties laid down a bowl of food for her cat. "Come on Baby. Good girl," said Serena, smiling at her playful familiar, as Kit nibbled at her dinner. Serena moved into her living room, which was dimly lit. She made her way to the alter that she had carefully set up. Today was a good to practice her craft or so she thought, as she knelt down to light the candles. With barely a touch of her finger to the wick, the candle lit as if by magic. Once all of the candles were lit, she began her chant.

"Ancient one of the earth so deep, master of moon and sun, I shield you in my wiccan way, here in my circle round, asking you to protect this space, and offer your sun force down," she chanted, as the flames on the candles rose. She didn't notice the masculine figure that had entered her living room. A creak in the floor, caused Serena to look up from her circle.

"What are you doing here?" she asked her sometimes lover, honestly surprised by his appearance. In an instant, the male figure plunged a knife into her stomach. Her eyes widened in shock, before they glazed over and she fell to the floor dead, as the hooded figure snuck out the way he came.

Across town, a brunette in her mid-twenties is arriving home, all the while mentally preparing herself for the lecture she knew was coming. Piper Halliwell entered the family home.

"Prue? Xander?" she called, as she took her coat off, and placed her umbrella in the stand by the front door.

"In here, working on the chandelier," hollered her older sister, from the front hall. Piper knew Prue was going to go in full-on lecture mode because her of her late arrival. Piper made her way into the front hall to find her younger brother on a stepladder fiddling with the ancient chandelier that had been hanging in the manor for as long as she could remember. Prue was standing off to the side of the ladder, handing her brother tools.

"Sorry I'm late, guys," apologized Piper, as she waited for Prue to say something and get it over with.

"What else is new? Piper, I would have been her to meet the electrician, but you know I can't leave the museum until six. I didn't even have time to change," responded Prue, in an exasperated tone. She was still clad in her nice and reserved business-like attire. Her dark hair barely touching her shoulders.

"And I couldn't be here cause I had an awesomely hard calc test, which makes me wonder why I, a journalism major, needs to take calculus, but I digress," threw in Xander, as he climbed down the ladder. Xander, wearing a dark blue sweater and jeans, stood taller than both of his older sisters. Well all three, if you counted Phoebe, but he wouldn't be the one to bring up Phoebe in front of Prue.

"I didn't realize how long I was in Chinatown. Did Jeremy call?" asked Piper.

"No, but he had some roses and a package delivered. What were you doing in Chinatown? I thought you had an interview in North Beach," said Prue, as she watched Piper open the package from her boyfriend of a few months.

"What? Did that Wolfgang Puck wannabe not hire you, sis?" asked Xander, as he returned from putting the toolbox underneath the kitchen sink.

"I did, but I went to the Young Lee Market to get some ingredients for my audition recipe tomorrow, and this gift may just get me the job," explained Piper, as she held up the bottle she pulled from the package.

"Jeremy sent you port?" asked Prue, with a scrutinize tone.

"The ultimate ingredient in my recipe," said Piper, as the standard giggly girl in love smile came across her face.

"What a prince," mumbled Xander, under his breath. It was common knowledge that Xander reserved the right to despise all of his sisters' boyfriends, while they were somewhat critical of his choice in lady loves. This behavior came from having to rely on each other for so many years, since their mother's passing when Xander was barely two. Sure, they had their grandmother, who could be a bit stern at times, but the Halliwell siblings developed a closeness that had been tested at times, but seemed to last, for the most part.

"Oh my God, I don't believe it. Tell me that's not our old spirit board," said Piper, her eyes glistening as she looked over their childhood toy, recounting all the times they used to scare each other using the spirit board.

"Yeah, I found it it in the basement, when I was looking for the circuit tester," said Xander, as he came back into the room, after putting the toolbox away underneath the kitchen sink.

"To my four beautiful children. May this give you the light to find the shadows. The power of four will set you free. Love, Mom. We never did figure out what this inscription meant," said Piper, as she read the back of the spirit board.

"Well, maybe we should send it to Phoebe. That girl is so in the dark, maybe a little light will help ," said Prue, as she thought of her wayward little sister.

"You're always so hard on her," said Piper.

"Piper, the girl has no sense of the future, no vision," argued Prue.

"I dunno, Prue. I think Pheebs is coming around," threw in Xander. It was no secret that Xander was closest to Phoebe, due to their closeness in age, just a gap of five years. Whenever Xander wanted someone to play with as a kid, it was always Phoebe. At least until Phoebe hit high school, and become every parent's worst nightmare. Boy did Grams have a lot on her plate with Phoebe.

"As long as she doesn't come around here, I guess that's good news," muttered Prue, as she headed to the kitchen.

"You didn't tell her," said Xander, as he pointed an accusatory finger at Piper.

"Well, neither did you," shot back Piper.

"Piper, this wasn't my idea. I know exactly how Prue will react to Phoebe's homecoming, and somehow planning one sister's funeral and going to the other's murder trial does not excite me like it does you," said Xander. He could feel a headache coming a mile away.

"Alright, I'll tell her, but you have to be there to back me up if she begins ranting," said Piper.

"I think it's a given that Prue is going to rant," sighed Xander.

Opening Credits:

Shannen Doherty as Prue Halliwell

Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell

Nicholas Brendan as Xander Halliwell

and Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell

T.W. King as Andy Trudeau

Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris

While two of the Halliwell siblings were trying to figure out how to tell Prue that Phoebe was coming home, the body of Serena Fredrick had been discovered, and police were combing the scene almost immediately. One cop, in particular, appeared extremely agitated. Darryl Morris, a newly promoted inspector, was awaiting the arrival of his partner. His partner was a good cop, but he tended to go off on weird tangents when it came to cases involving the occult.

"Well, it's about time," said Darryl, noting his partner's arrival. The newly arrived inspector Andy Trudeau appeared to be in his late twenties, and had dark brown hair.

"I got here as soon as I heard. Another dead female right? Mid to late twenties," responded Andy, as he began inspecting the body, and immediately noticed the victim's tattoo of four interlocking arcs inside of a circle.

"I've been paging you for an hour, Trudeau, where have you been?" asked Darryl, in an exasperated tone.

"Checking out a lead," answered Andy, quietly.

"What lead?" asked Darryl, immediately knowing that he was going to hate the answer that his partner gave.

"One that didn't go anywhere," said Andy, as he continued to take notes about the crime scene.

"You're avoiding my question," said Darryl.

"Because you don't wanna know that I went to an occult shop," admitted Andy.

Darryl inwardly groaned before responding to his partner's admission, "You hate me don't you? You wanna see me suffer."

"I wanna solve these murders. Someone's after witches," said Andy, with a tone of conviction and a look of seriousness blazing in his eyes.

"Women," corrected Darryl, trying to deter his partner from going down the freaky-deaky trail.

"That woman right there, I bet she was killed with an athame," said Andy.

"Wrong. Double-edged steel knife," responded Darryl.

"Right, that's an athame. It's a ceremonial tool. Witches use them to direct energy," explained Andy, repeating some of the facts he had learned about witchcraft.

"That woman didn't direct jack. She was stabbed, plain and simple," said Darryl.

"Was she found at an altar?" asked Andy, trying to prove a point.

"Yes," answered Darryl, albeit reluctantly.

"Were there carvings on that altar?" asked Andy.

"Look, just do me a favor. Don't follow a lead without checking with me," said Darryl.

"You wanna go to occult shops?" asked Andy, in a rhetorical manner.

"Just get to work," sighed Darryl, knowing he lost the argument for now. When the two inspectors got back to work, they were briefly interrupted by a man, who appeared to be in his mid to late twenties.

"Jeremy Burns, San Francisco Chronicle. Care to comment?" asked the young man.

"A woman was stabbed, plain and simple," responded Andy.

"Well, that's the third one in three weeks," said Jeremy, as he took notes. Andy continued to examine the altar, trying to find something to support his claim that the killer was after witches.

Back at the Halliwell Manor, Xander and Prue continued to work on the ancient chandelier. "I don't get it. I've checked everything, there is no reason that the chandelier should not be working," said Prue, as she fiddled with the circuit tester.

"Well Prue, neither of us are trained electricians. I'm a writer, not a handyman," said Xander, while flicking the light switch for the umpteenth time. Piper, sensing the perfect way to broach the idea of Phoebe moving in, made her move.

"You know how we've been talking about what to do with the spare room? I think you're right, Prue. We do need a roommate," said Piper. Xander could do nothing, but stare at his older sister with a raised eyebrow.

"We can rent the room at a reduced rate in exchange for help around the house," suggested Prue, pleased that Piper agreed with her idea of getting a roommate.

"Phoebe's good with a wrench," said Piper, immediately.

"Phoebe's in New York," said Prue, with suspicion in her tone.

"Not anymore," said Piper, quietly.

"What?" responded Prue.

"She's left New York. She's moving back in with us," said Piper, looking to Xander for help.

"I do not believe this," seethed Prue. How could they keep something like this from her? Didn't they share everything?

"Well, I could hardly say no. It's her house too. Grams willed it to all four of us," explained Piper.

"Yeah, months ago and we haven't seen or spoken to her since," replied Prue, as she started pacing.

"Well, you haven't spoken to her, but Xan and I have," said Piper.

"You knew about this, too?" asked Prue, turning to her brother.

"No, no, maybe, yes," said Xander, breaking down under the power of Prue's glare.

"How long have you two known about this anyway?" asked Prue.

"A couple of days," Piper answered right away. Prue, once again, turned to Xander. He could not lie to Prue to save his life. He sighed, before answering.

"A week or two," he finally admitted.

"Thanks for sharing. When does she arrive?" asked Prue, all the while rubbing her forehead. Just then, the front door of the manor swung open revealing Phoebe Halliwell in all her glory. Her light brown hair was styled short, and she had a backpack slung over her shoulder.

"Surprise! I found the hide-a-key," said Phoebe, with a smile.

"Phoebe, welcome home," said Piper, in her gentle tone.

"Hello, Piper," said Phoebe, pulling her older sister into a hug.

"Hey Pheebs," said Xander, immediately joining their group hug.

"Look at you, my not-so-little little brother," said Phoebe, laughing..

"It's so good to see you, Pheebs. Isn't it, Prue?" asked Piper, hoping that her older sister would just say something.

"I'm speechless," said Prue, tonelessly, just as a car horn beeps from outside.

"Oops, I forgot about the cab," said Phoebe.

"We'll get it," said Piper. She grabbed her brother's arm and Prue's purse, and headed out the door.

"Piper, that's my purse," she hollered, but to no avail. Why did she have to take the buffer that is Xander, and leave her with Phoebe?

"Thanks, I'll pay you back," said Phoebe. Prue just stared at her baby sister with an intensity. After five minutes, Prue finally spoke.

"Is that all you brought?" she asked, motioning towards the backpack still on Phoebe's shoulder.

"That's all that I own and a bike. Look, I know you don't want me here...," started Phoebe.

"We're not selling Grams' house," interrupted Prue, sternly.

"Is that why you think I came back?" asked Phoebe, hurt that her sister had so little faith in her.

"Look, the only reason Piper and I gave up our apartment, and Xander didn't move into an on-campus dorm is because this house has been in our family for generations."

"No need for the history lesson. I grew up here too. So can we talk about what's really bothering you?" asked Phoebe.

"No, I'm still furious with you," responded Prue, crossing her arms.

"So, you'd rather have a tense reunion filled with boring chitchat and unimportant small talk?" asked Phoebe, with a roll of her eyes.

"No, but otherwise we won't have anything to talk about," answered Prue, sarcastically.

"I never touched Roger," said Phoebe, rather abruptly.

"Whoa!" snapped Prue, raising her hands to stop Phoebe from going on about a certain ex that Prue would have loved to forget.

"I know you think otherwise because that's what that Armani-wearing, Chardonnay-slugging, trust funder told you," said Phoebe, repeating the say thing she told Prue the last time they argued about Roger. Neither of them seemed to notice that Piper and Xander had come back inside from paying Phoebe's cab fare.

"Hey, I have a great idea. Why don't I whip us up a fabulous reunion dinner?" suggested Piper, hoping to diffuse the time bomb.

"That is a great idea, Piper. It's not every day that the four of us are all together. It'll be like old times," agreed Xander.

"I'm not hungry," said Prue, heading off to the living room.

"I ate on the bus," said Phoebe, as she headed up the stairs.

"Okay, we'll try the group hug later," hollered Piper, as both of their sisters left her and Xander standing in the foyer.

Phoebe was standing in front of the mirror in her bedroom, with her portable television on in the background. They were going on about some woman getting murdered or something, but Phoebe had bigger problems to deal with, namely Prue. A knock at the bedroom door interrupted her thought process. She opened the door to find Piper holding a tray of food and Xander holding a tray of drinks.

"Come on in. Thank God, I'm starving," said Phoebe, beckoning them into her room.

"We figured that. Hey that's my boyfriend, Jeremy. What happened?" asked Piper, pointing at the tv.

"Oh, so woman got whacked," said Phoebe, taking a bite of the food Piper brought her.

"Whacked? Phoebe, you've been in New York way too long," laughed Piper.

"Yeah, I should've stayed. Why didn't you guys tell her I was coming back?" asked Phoebe.

"And risk her changing the locks, besides you should've been the one to tell her, Pheebs. Not us," spoke up Xander.

"Good point, Chickens Little. It's just so hard for me to talk to her. She's always been like a mother," said Phoebe.

"That's not her fault. She practically had to sacrifice..."

"Her own childhood to raise us," they all three finished together.

"And the three of us had it easy. All we had to do was be there," said Piper.

"Yeah well, I don't need a mom anymore, you know, I need a sister," said Phoebe.

"I'm with Phoebe on this. I'd rather have sister Prue than Grams-like Prue," agreed Xander. Another knock at the door revealed Prue standing there with a quilt in her arms.

"This was always the coldest room in the house," said Prue, rather calmly, than her usual stern tones.

"Thanks," said Phoebe, with a smile.

Back at the dead witch's apartment, Andy and Darryl continued to go over the evidence. Andy was still examining the tattoo on her neck. The four interlocking arcs, stenciled in heavy black ink, stood out on her pale skin. "It's the same tattoo that was on the other two victims," stated Andy.

"So, the murderer is targeting occultists," surmised Darryl.

"No, the murderer's on a witch hunt," responded Andy, with a degree of certainty in his voice.

"Oh yeah, he's five hundred years old and lives in Salem. Look around Trudeau. Pentagrams, altars, offerings, all the tools for a freak fest," said Darryl.

"They call them Sabbaths, which is hardly a freak fest. She was a solitary practitioner. She practiced her craft alone," Andy informed his partner.

"Mmm," mumbled Darryl, rolling his eyes at Andy's explanations.

"Let me ask you something, Morris. Do you believe in UFOs?" asked Andy.

"Hell no," responded Darryl.

"Neither do I, but do you believe there are people out there who do believe in UFOs?" asked Andy.

"Yes, but I think they're crazy," answered Darryl.

"Well, then why can't you believe there are people out there that believe they are witches?" asked Andy. Just as Darryl was bout to answer Andy's question, Serena's cat jumped up to where Andy was sitting, and kept rubbing against arm.

"Look, all I know is that if you don't stop talking about witches, people are gonna start questioning you. I'd stay away from that cat, Trudeau. It's been clawing the crap out of everybody. See you in the car," said Darryl, as he left the dead woman's apartment. Andy continued to pat the cat's head until he noticed the symbol sketched on the cat's collar matched Serena Fredrick's tattoo. Kit just meowed.

Back at Halliwell Manor, Xander was reading a book for class, Phoebe and Piper were messing around with the spirit board, and Prue was still working on the chandelier. All in all, everything had seem to calm down. Xander could only hope that it would stay that way. The Fates were definitely laughing at him.

"So when did you meet Jeremy?" asked Phoebe, all the while still focusing on the spirit board.

"It was about six months ago, right before Grams died. We met in the hospital cafeteria the day Grams was admitted. He was there covering a story, and I was bawling over a bagel. So he handed me a napkin," answered Piper, smiling at the memory.

"How romantic," giggled Phoebe. Xander could only roll his eyes and scoff at the guy his sister seemed to love. Xander didn't like Jeremy, and he made no secret of it. There was something about him that Xander couldn't put his finger on, but he was so wrong for Piper. Of course, Piper heard his concerns, and brushed them aside, just like he usually did when she questioned his dating habits.

"Stop pushing the pointer," said Piper.

"I'm not touching it," responded Phoebe.

"You used to always push the pointer. More popcorn?" asked Piper, as she headed towards the kitchen.

"Hey, I forgot your question," Phoebe hollered towards the kitchen.

"I asked if Prue would have sex with someone other than herself this year," answered Piper, from the kitchen.

"Well now, I'm scarred for life," muttered Xander, crinkling his nose in disgust.

"Please say yes," said Phoebe, her fingers barely touching the planchette. All of sudden, the old wooden pointer moved with a jerk, landing on the letter A. Phoebe looked up from the board. Xander's nose was still buried in his book, and Piper was still busying herself in the kitchen. "Uh... guys," she stuttered. Then, the pointer made another sharp move, this time landing on the letter T. "Piper!" she hollered.

"What's wrong, Pheebs?" asked Xander, dropping his book on the table, and moving to where Phoebe was seated.

"What?" asked Piper, hurrying back into the room with the bowl of popcorn in her arms, Prue following behind her.

"What did you guys do now?" asked Prue, crossing hers, all the while, eying her younger siblings with suspicion.

"Don't look at me," said Xander, holding his hands up. Piper just shook her head agreeing with what Xander .

"The pointer on the spirit board." This got Phoebe some strange looks. "I'm serious. It spelled A-T," Phoebe stated, maintaining her innocence.

"Well, did you push it?" asked Piper, doubt filling her voice.

"No," said Phoebe, shaking her head.

"You always used to push the pointer," pointed out Prue.

"They're right, Phoebe. You did always push the pointer when we were kids," said Xander.

"My fingers were barely touching it. Look." Phoebe places her fingers back on the pointer, and nothing happened. Xander couldn't help but feel disappointed when the pointer didn't move. He didn't know why, but he thought something new and exciting was about to happen. Prue and Piper no longer looked amused, and turned to leave the room. Just when their books were turned, the pointer moved again before returning to the letter T. Xander's eyes widened. The thing actually moved on its own.

"Ah, it did it again! It moved!" shouted Phoebe, jumping up and down. Prue and Piper turned back to look, and unsurprisingly, the pointer was still on T.

"It's still on the letter T," said Prue, no longer in a kidding mood

"I swear it moved. Xander saw it too," said Phoebe, her convictions still firmly in place. Prue, however, did not believe, and left the room again. Xander's eyes still hadn't left the pointer. He could not believe what was happening. No more than two minutes had passed since Prue left the sitting room, before the pointer started moving again, this time landing on the letter I. Piper's eyes widened as she looked from her brother to her sister, and back to the spirit board.

"There. Look. You saw that right?" said Phoebe, pointing at the spirit board.

"I saw it," said Xander, his voice almost shaking with some sort of anticipation.

"I think so, yeah," said Piper, nodding, still not believing that this was really happening.

"I told you I wasn't pushing the pointer," said Phoebe, as the pointer starting moving again, before stopping on the letter C.

"Prue, can you come here for a sec?" hollered Piper, her anxiety building.

"Now what?' asked Prue, as she hurried back into the sitting room.

"I think it's trying to tell us something," said Phoebe, holding up the envelope that she wrote the word down on, revealing the word ATTIC. Prue looks on disbelievingly, when a clap of thunder sounds off, and the manor's power goes out.

"The pointer moved, our house is haunted, and I'm leaving," said Piper, heading towards the front door, with Prue and Xander trailing behind her.

"Don't you think you're overreacting?" asked Prue.

"Prue's right. We're perfectly safe here at the manor," said Xander, trying to calm his sister down.

"Don't say that. In horror movies, the person who says that is always the next to die," said Piper, nervously.

"It's raining. There's a psycho on the loose, and Jeremy's not even home," said Prue.

"Well, I'll-I'll-I'll wait in the cab," stuttered Piper.

"Yeah, that'll be cheap. Why don't we all just take a breather and calm down," said Xander.

"Xander, I saw that pointer move, and so did you, so do not tell me to calm down," shouted Piper, reaching near hysteric levels.

"No, look, what you two saw was Phoebe's fingers pushing the pointer. There's nothing in the attic, she's playing a joke on us," said Prue, reaching her limit with this crap.

"We don't know that. We've lived in this house for months and we've never been able to get that attic door open," argued Piper, as she picks up the phone. "Great, now the phone doesn't work."

"Yeah, the power's out. Look, will one of you come with me to the basement?" asked Xander.

"What?" asked Piper.

"I need one of you to hold the flashlight, while I check the main circuit box," said Xander.

"Phoebe, will go with you to the basement," suggested Prue.

"Nope, I'm going to the attic," said Phoebe, with a flashlight in hand.

"No, you're not. We already agreed," said Prue, sternly.

"I am not waiting for some handyman to check out the and I'm certainly not waiting until tomorrow. I'm going now," said Phoebe, heading for the stairs.

"Well, come on, we need to check the circuit box," said Xander, heading for the basement.

Phoebe reaches the attic door, flashlight in hand. She is almost shaking in anticipation, her hand reaching for the metal doorknob. She twists it a couple of times, but to her disappointment, the attic door remains locked. She finally decides to give up and starts for the stairs. Just as she reached the top of the stairs, she hears a creak. Phoebe turns around to find the attic door standing wide open. Before she could stop herself, she reached the bottom of the attic steps. She made her trek up the stairs.

She shined her flashlight around, finding that the manor's attic looked surprisingly like every other stereotypical attic. There was an old sofa and a table in the center. Bookshelves lined one of the walls. Large windows with stained glass edges allowed the attic to fill with moonlight from the full moon. Phoebe continued to look around, until something caught her eye. The light from the moon hit an ancient-looking trunk that was carefully nestled in the corner of the attic. Phoebe made her way to the trunk and knelt down in front of it. She opened the trunk, and to her surprise, it only held one item, a large book that seemed to be bound in green leather. On the front of the book, there was a strange shape the looked like four interlocking arcs bound by one circle in the center.

She opened the front cover and read the title page. "The Book of Shadows," she read aloud. She flips the page, and begins reading.

"Hear now the words of the witches,

the secrets we hid in the night,

the oldest of Gods are invoked here,

the great work of magic is sought.

In this night and in this hour,

I call upon the ancient power,

bring you powers to we siblings four,

we want the power, give us the power."

As soon as the spell was read, an ethereal blue light shone through the chandelier, and a photograph in which all four Halliwell siblings were sanding apart from each other changed to show the the four closer than they had ever been.

"What are you doing?" came a voice from behind Phoebe. She jumped up to find her sisters and brother standing there.

"Uh... reading an incantation. It was in this Book of Shadows. I found it in that trunk," answered Phoebe, pointing towards the trunk.

"How did you get in here?" asked Xander. He could never remember a time when the attic door wasn't locked. Grams had always told them that the attic was sealed off.

"Wait a minute, an incantation? What kind of incantation?" asked Piper, her nerves getting the best of her.

"It said something about there being three essentials of magic. Uh, timing, feeling and the phases of the moon. If we were ever gonna do this, now-midnight on a full moon- is the most powerful time," said Phoebe.

"This? Do what?" asked Xander, wondering what the hell his sister was talking about.

"Receive our powers," said Phoebe, in a serious yet hopeful tone.

"What powers? Our powers? You included me in this?" asked Piper.

"No, she included all of us. Bring your powers to we siblings four. It's a book of witchcraft," said Prue, as she skimmed the incantation that Phoebe had read.

"Let me see that," said Xander, taking the book from Prue. It was almost as if he could feel the power radiating from the book. Unknown to the Halliwells, a dark hooded figure stood outside, in the rain, watching the manor, as if they were waiting for someone or something.

"Spirit boards, books of witchcraft. It figures all this freaky stuff happens when you arrived," complained Prue, as the foursome headed downstairs.

"It doesn't matter because nothing happened. Right Phoebe, when you did the incantation?" asked Piper.

"Well, my head spun around and I vomited split-pea soup. How should I know?" retorted Phoebe, sarcastically.

"Well, everything looks the same," said Xander, hoping to ease the tension some.

"You're right," said Phoebe, almost disappointingly.

"But the house still needs work," sighed Prue.

"Everything's the same. Nothing's changed," said Piper, happily.

Early morning had risen over San Francisco. The previous night's storm had ended, and everything seemed quiet at 1329 Prescott Street. Phoebe was sitting on the front porch sipping coffee and flipping throught the Book of Shadows. She was still kinda bummed that nothing happened when she read the incantation. It would have been so exciting to be a witch.

"You're up early," said Piper, as she exited the manor, taking a seat next to Phoebe.

"I never wemt to sleep," sighed Phoebe.

"Don't tell me you put on a black conical hat and spent the night flying around the neighborhood on a broomstick," joked Piper.

"The only broom I've ever had was kept in the closet beside the mop," responded Phoebe.

"So what are you doing?" asked Piper.

"Reading. Are Prue and Xander around?" asked Phoebe.

"Prue went to work early and Xan is sleeping in because he doesn't have class until noon. Reading aloud?" asked Piper.

"No. According to the Book of Shadows, one of our ancestors was a witch named Melinda Warren," said Phoebe.

"And we have a cousin who's a drunk, an aunt who's manic, and a father who's invisible," said Piper, as she stands up and makes her way to her car.

"I'm serious. She practiced powers. Four powers. She could move objects with her mind, see the future, stop time, and control fire. Before Melinda was burned at the stake, she vowed that each generation of Warren witches would become stronger and stronger, culminating in the arrival of four siblings, three sisters and a lone brother. Now these four would be the most powerful witches the world has ever known. They're good witches and I think we're them," stated Phoebe, without stopping to breathe.

"Look, I know what happened last night was unexplainable and weird, but we're not witches and we do not have special powers. Besides, Grams wasn't a witch and as far as we know, neither was Mom. So take that Nancy Drew," said Piper, as she pecked Phoebe on the cheek and got into the car.

"We're the protectors of the innocent. We're known as the Charmed Ones," hollered Phoebe, as Piper started her car and drove off.

At the museum, Prue was fighting the urge not to throttle her boss slash ex-fiance. He was an arrogant jerk, and she still could not for the life of her, figure out why she agreed to marry him, in the first place. She was listening to him drone on, as her mind wandered back to the previous night. Maybe she should apologise to Phoebe.

"There's been a change of plans," announced Roger, as they were discussing an upcoming showing that the museum was holding.

"Change of plans regarding the Beals expedition?" asked Prue.

"The extra money that you helped raise through private donations has sparked significant corporate interests. The Beals artifacts will now become a part of our permanent collection," responded Roger, as they continued walking through the museum.

"Well, that's terrific," said Prue, smiling because all of her hard work paid off.

"Which is why the Board wants someone a little more qualified to handle the collection from now on. You looked surprised," said Roger in a rather smug tone.

"I don't know why. I'm furious. Not only have I been on this project since its inception, but I'm the curator who secured the entire exhibition. You're the person a little more qualified aren't you?" asked Prue.

"I could harldy say no to the Board of Directors, could I? But, I know you'll be happy for me, after all, what's good for me is definitely good for you. Right Miss Halliwell?" asked Roger, his tone rather oily and condescending.

"Miss Halliwell? When did we stop being on a first name basis? When we stopped sleeping together or when I returned your engagement ring, Roger?" asked Prue, in a snarky tone.

"I didn't realize the two were mutally exclusive. Although, I certainly enjoyed one more than the other," responded Roger.

"Bastard!" hissed Prue, as she turned to leave, only to stop when he calls out to her.

"I feel like I should say something if only to avoid a lawsuit," says Roger. Prue says nothing, but gives him her fiercest glare before leaving. It is only once Prue is gone does Roger realize that the pen in his front pocket leaked through his shirt. He takes the pen out of his pocket and looks at it carefully before it coats his face in blue ink.

While Prue was dealing with Roger, Piper is in a large restaurant kitchen, preparing her final audition recipe, which may just land her dream job as a chef. She is measuring out the port when her interviewer (the Wolfgang Puck knock-off) Chef Moore walks in. Although she seems frazzled, Piper knows that she cooked an excellent meal, except she didn't have time to finish the port sauce.

"Your time eez' up. Let's see, roast pork with gratin of fennel and penne with a port giblet sauce," said Chef Moore, in his French accent.

"Chef Moore...," started Piper, trying to explain that she didn't finish the port sauce.

"What?" he snapped.

"Uh... the port...," she started again, trying to finish what she was saying.

"Ah yes, without ze' sauce, it is nothing more than a salty marinara. A recipe from a woman's magazine. Puh!" exclaimed Chef Moore.

"I didn't have time for..," Piper started a third time.

"Ah-ah!" said Chef Moore, effectively stopping her from speaking.

"But... but...," she stutters. She waves her hands trying to stop him from taking that bite of pork. When all of a sudden, he stops, almost as if he was a statue. Piper, surprised by this turn of events, waves her hand in front of his face, trying to snap him out of his trance-like state.

"Chef Moore, Chef Moore, hellooo." Piper then decided to take advantage of the situation by grabbing a baster from the counter, filling it with the sauce, and dribbles some on to the bite that was still on Chef Moore's fork. The next thing she knew, Chef Moore was mobile again, nibbling on his bite. She just smiles, while still trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

"Mmm... Zis is very good. C'est magnifique," he smiles as he chews. Piper just nods.

Back at the museum, Roger is changing his ruined shirt, when Prue walks into his office wanting to say something she has been dying to for months.

"I quit," says Prue, with a look of satisfaction on her face.

"Think about this, Prue," responds Roger.

"Lousy job, lousy pay, lousy boss. What's to think about?" asked Prue, rhetorically.

"Your future. Because, believe me, if you walk out with no notice, you can kiss any referances..." started Roger.

"Don't threaten me, Roger," responded Prue.

"You know me. Had to try. You're hurt, you're angry, your pride is wounded. I understand all that. That's why you can't see I'm doing you a favor," said Roger, trying to explain it all away.

"Excuse me?" asked Prue, her ire at the situation and her ex-boss-fiance rising at an explosive rate.

"I had to take the exhibit away from you. If I hadn't, the board would of come and put a total stranger in my place. Think about it, Prue. I'm here for you. Not some stranger. You should be thanking me not leaving me."

"Well, I'm not worried. I'm certain that your intellect will make quick work of the seventy-five computer discs and thousands of pages of research I left in my office," replied Prue, smiling.

"You're gonna regret this," said Roger.

"Oh, I don't think so. I thought breaking up with you was the best thing I'd ever done. But this definitely tops that. Goodbye, Roger," said Prue, as she turned to leave the office.

She hears him call after her. "I hope there are no office supplies in your purse." She stops herself from leaving, but decides not to give Roger the satisfation of her turning back to respond. Instead, she wraps her hands around his imaginary neck, but she doesn't notice as she's doing this that Roger's silk tie seems to tigthen around his neck, and starts to strangle him. He gasps as he grabs a pair of scissors, and cuts the tie off.

"What the hell was that?" he murmurs.

Piper is standing inside a phone booth. She still can't believe this is happening. Phoebe was actuslly right. Oh God, did this mean the others somehow had powers too? "Come on Phoebe, Xander, somebody answer..." To Piper's dismay, no one answered. She exits the phone booth only to run smack dab into someone's masculine chest. She looks up to see her boyfriend of six months, Jeremy. "Jeremy...um what are you doing here?" she asks.

"Well, I wanted to be the first to congratulate you on your new job," answers Jeremy, as he pulls Piper into his arms.

"You always surprise me. How did you know?"

"You prepared your specialty, and everyone's who's ever sampled your work, can truly see how talented you are," he says smiling at her.

"I get so turned on when you talk about food," she giggles.

"Hamburgers, pizza," he murmurs, pulling her into a kiss.

Back at the manor, Xander has arrived home from his afternoon class, when he hears the machine pick up Piper's messsage. His day had been perfectly average. Nothing strange happened, and he had pretty much put the weird crap from the previous night out of his head. Once, he reaches the conservatory, where he left his laptop plugged in, a cat shoots out of nowhere causing Xander to jump back. In an instant, a ball of what seemed to be fire launched out of Xander's hand and hits the ficus sitting in the corner.

"What the hell? What the hell?" he shouts, running to the kitchen to grab the fire extinguisher. He puts out the flaming ficus, still wondering how he set the plant ablaze. "Okay, I got scared, stupid cat, hands went up, ball of fire," says Xander, this time noticing the fireball. What's strange is not the fact that he's holding fire in the palm of his hand, but that the fire feels somewhat comforting, as if it was meant to be there. "Phoebe probably knows what's going on, and until she gets home. I'll just sit on my hands, and pray like hell that I don't set the couch on fire," Xander says, trying to calm himself down.

Phoebe was riding her bike in the neighborhood, still thinking about all of the stuff she read in the Book of Shadows. "Too bad, Piper was right," she sighes to herself, before getting a sudden chill, when all of a sudden it's like she's been pulled into a black and white movie. She sees two roller-bladers skating past her and getting hit by a car. With a shake of her head, Phoebe finds herself still on her bike in the middle of the street. Then, she sees the same two roller-bladers skate past her. Knowing she has to stop her vision, premonition-thing from coming true, she speeds up and swerves her bike in bewteen the two skaters and the car that would hit them.

Prue arrives at the hospital in a tizzy. She may not be close to Phoebe, like she once was, but that didn't mean she wanted her to ever get hurt. She goes to the nurses' station, not taking notice of the dark-haired gentleman standing next to her. "Hi, um, I'm looking for my sister, Phoebe Halliwell."

The nurse looks at her before replying "One second please." She then looks to the man standing to Prue's right. "What's the name again, sir?"

" Inspector Andrew Trudeau. Homocide. Dr Gordon's expecting me," says the dark-haired man.

Prue turns and sees the man that she let get away from her nearly ten years before. "Andy? " she says. Andy looks up and is genuinely surprised to see her after so many years.

"Prue? I don't believe it. How are you?" asks Andy, while wondering if it was possible that she was more beautiful now then she was when they were dating.

"I'm good and you?" she responds, trying not to notice how good looking he is because the last thing she needs right now is another man.

Andy answers with a "Fine. I just can't believe I'm running into you."

"Yeah. I'm picking up Phoebe. She had some kind of accident," explaines Prue.

"Is she gonna be okay?" asks Andy, his feelings for the woman in front of him quite obvious to most.

" Yeah, she'll be fine. Um, what are you doing here? "

"Murder investigation," he responds. This brief conversation is followed by an awkward and uncomfortable silence, with neither of them knowing what to say to the other. Prue's mental debate on whether to speak or not was soon interrupted by the attending nurse.

" Your sisters still in x-ray's so it'll be another fifteen minutes. Doctor Gordon's office is to the left and down the hall. He's with a patient right now but you're free to wait outside his office."

"Thank you," they both said in tandem.

"Well, it's good seeing you, Prue," said Andy, taking her hand and shaking in an awakward move.

" Yeah, you too, Andy. Take care," said Prue.

" You know, Phoebe's busy, Dr Gordon's busy. Can I buy you a bad cup of coffee while we wait?" asked Andy, with hope shining in his eyes.

"Sure," responded Prue. "So you're an inspector now?"

"What can I say? In any other city I'd be called detective," said Andy, with a chuckle.

"Inspector's classier," said Prue, smiling.

"Liking it better already," he responded, as he fell into the familiarity and comfort he had always found with Prue.

"Your dad must be so proud," she said.

"Third generation. You bet he's happy. How about you? You taking the world by storm?" he asked.

"Well, I'm living back at Grams's house, and as of an hour ago, looking for work," she admitted, honestly.

"Oh," Andy replied.

"I heard you moved to Portland," Prue said, trying to change the subject.

"I'm back. You... uh... still seeing Roger?" he asked, hoping the answer would be the one he wanted.

"How did you know about him?" asked Prue, with a grimace, while barely giving a thought to her ex-boss-fiance.

"I know people," he said, almost mysteriously.

"You checked up on me?" Prue surmised, her eyes widening.

"I wouldn't call it that," Andy responds.

"What would you call it?" she asks, raising her eyebrow.

"Inquiring minds want to know. What can I say? I'm a detective," he answers, with a grin.

Forty-five minutes later, Prue and Phoebe are sitting at a bar waiting on their coffee. Phoebe had just finished explainng everything that had happened and Prue just shook her head in disbelief.

"The Chosen Ones? The Charmed Ones? Phoebe, this is insane," said Prue, not believing a word her youngest sister had to say.

"Are you telling me that nothing strange happened to you today? You didn't freeze time, set something on fire, or move things?" asks Phoebe, continuing to press the issue because she knows she had a premonition, so her three siblings must've had some kind of episode too.

"Roger took an exhibit away from me. All right, look, Phoebe, I know that you think you can see the future which is pretty ironic...," she started to say before being interrupted.

"Since you don't think I have one, that my vision of life is cloudy compared to your perfect hell? Even if you don't want to believe me, just once can't you trust me?" asked Phoebe.

"Phoebe, I do not have special powers. Now, where is the cream?" she asks, hoping to have put an end to Phoebe's witch stories. Unfortunately for Prue, the small container holding the cream slid itself across the countertop to Prue's hand and if that wasn't enough, it filled her coffee without her eeven touching it.

"Really? That looked pretty special to me," commented Phoebe.

"Oh my god. So... um... I can move things with my mind?" said Prue, panic filling her tone.

"With how much you hold inside, you should be a lethal weapon by now," said Phoebe, in a matter-of-fact manner."This must mean that Piper and Xander can freeze time or control fire. Are you okay?"

Prue looks at Phoebe with glare and grabs her sister's shotglass and downs it in one."No, I'm not okay. You turned me into a witch," she finally responds.

"You were born one. We all were. And I think we better start to deal with it. When I was looking through the Book Of Shadows, I saw these wood carvings. They looked like something out of a bosch painting. All these terrifying images of four people battling different incarnations of evil," her sister says.

"Evil fighting evil, that's a twist," commented Prue.

"Actually, a witch can be either good or evil. A good witch follows the wiccan rede. 'An it harm none, do what ye will.' A bad witch or a warlock has but one goal: to kill good witches and retain their powers. Unfortunately, the look like regular people. They could be anyone, anywhere," explains Phoebe, recalling what she had read last night.

"And this has what to do with us?" asks Prue.

"Well, in the first wood carving, they were in the slumber, but in the second one, they were battling some kind of warlock. I think as long as we were in the dark about our powers we were safe. Not anymore," answers Phoebe, in a much more serious nature than Prue was use to.

Xander was having some trouble with the witch thing, as well. In the hour that he had been home, he had managed to set the ficus on fire, incinerate the curtains in the living room, and blow up the answering machine. Now he was ransacking the kitchen, looking for the two things that might be able to help him at least until Phoebe got home and explained what the hell was happening.

He found the Book of Shadows on Phoebe's bed and had managed to read some without setting the book alight. He got the gist of what it said, and he was pretty damn sure he inherited the fire control power, which mean that each of his sisters inherited one of the other three powers. "Aha," he said, pulling a pair of blue flower-printed ovenmitts out of the kitchen drawer. He placed the ovenmitts on his hands, and tried to light his fire, but found that he couldn't. "The ovenmitts must block my power somehow, and boy does it feel weird to say that," muttered Xander, knowing his sisters were gonna make fun of him when they saw this.

The two sisters were now at the pharmacy because Phoebe needed her prescription filled and Prue needed aspirin like Yogi needed those picnic baskets.

"Chamomile tea works great for headaches," suggests Phoebe.

"Not for this one it won't," replied Prue.

"You know I'm not afraid of our powers. I mean, everyone inherits something from their family, right?" affirmed Phoebe, hoping to steer the converation back to the supernatural.

"Yeah, money, antiques, a strong disposition. That's what normal people inherit," shot back Prue.

"Who wants to be normal when we can be special?"

"I want to be normal, I want my life to be... you know, isn't this aisle 3?"

"Well, we can't change what happened. We can't undo our destiny," said Phoebe, in a smart tone.

"Do you see any aspirin?" asked Prue, her headache increasing with every passing second.

"I see chamomile tea," responds Phoebe, in a helpful, if somewhat perky tone.

"Look, I have just found out that I'm a witch, that my brother and sisters are witches, and that we have powers that will apparently unleash all forms of evil. Evil that is apparently going to come looking for us. So excuse me Phoebe, but I'm not exactly in a homeopathic mood right now," snaps Prue.

"Then move you headache out of your mind." Prue just glares at Phoebe, when a bottle of aspirin flies off the shelf and lands in Prue's hand.

"You move things when you're upset," Phoebe points out.

"This is ridiculous! I thought that you landed on your arm, not your head," argues Prue.

"You don't believe me," says Phoebe, stating the obvious.

"Of course I don't believe you," yells Prue.

"Ro-ger," taunts Phoebe, and with that a few more bottles of aspirin fly off the shelf. "Now let's talk about Dad and see what happens."

"He's dead, Phoebe," Prue says almost instantly.

"No, he's moved from New York, but he's very much alive," states Phoebe.

"He isn't to me. He died the day he left Mom," Prue responds, in a serious manner.

"What are you talking about? He's always been a major button pusher for you. You're mad he's alive, you're mad I tried to find him, and you're mad I came back. Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad." All of the medicines and bottles suddenly fly off of the shelves, and hit the floor. "Feel better?" asks Phoebe.

"Lots," answers Prue, with a relieved feeling in her voice.

"The Book of Shadows said our powers would grow," said Phoebe, as she and Prue looked around at the damage that was caused by Prue's telekinesis.

"Grow to what?" asks Prue, as she and Phoebe started laughing.

Piper and Jeremy arrive at the old Bowing building to see the supposedly amazing view. Piper became a little apprehensive about it. She didn't know why, but going inside the decrepit building seemed like a bad idea. "I don't care how amazing the view is. I'm not going in there," she says.

"Come on, come on. I have a surprise inside," said Jeremy, eagerly, as he led her into an old elevator. He presses the buttoin, and the elevator starts ascending. "You're gonna love this. I bet you tell Xander, Prue, and Phoebe the moment you seem them."

Piper looks at Jeremy curiously, her eyebrows raised."I never mentioned Phoebe came home."

"Whoops," he says with a grin that seems almost sinister. Jeremy reaches behind him and pulls out a large knife. The steel from the blade was glistening in the awful lighting from a lone bulb. Jeremy's grin turned fierce and his gaze became like ice. He had been waiting for six months, and now the culmination of his master plan was upon him.

"What is that?" asked Piper, her fear quite evidant.

"It's your surprise," he responds in a nonchalant tone, as he brought himself closer to her, the athame within a hair's width of Piper. She backed herself into a corner of the lift, trying to get away.

"Jeremy, stop it, you're scaring me. Damn it! I'm serious!" she cries, as her tears threaten to expose themselves.

"So am I. See, I've waited six months for this. Ever since Grams went to the hospital. I've known for some quite time that the moment that old witch croaked that all your powers would be released. Powers that would reveal themselves as soon as the four of you got together again. All that was needed was for Phoebe to return," he explains, encroaching on her personal space.

"You killed all those women, didn't you?" she screams.

"Not women, witches!" he answers.

"Why?" she asks.

He looks at her, and raises his left hand. Flames dance on the tips of his fingers in the exact same way they did for Serena Fredrick. "It was the only way to get their powers, and now I want yours," he says, his face and voice taking on demonic tones, as he raises the knife, preparing to stab her. Piper screams and immediately puts up her hands hoping to block him from getting to her. In an instant, Jeremy freezes, the knife still raised.

"Okay, think, stay calm. I gotta get outta here. Okay," Piper says to herself. She had noticed that the whole elevator car froze in between floors, and there was enough space for her to climb out of the car, and escape. Hopefully, Jeremy would stay frozen for that long. She climbs up onto the next floor. Just as she is about to make her escape, Jeremy unfreezes and he grabs her leg. She screams, grasping for anything to help her in that instant. Reaching for an old two-by-four, she strikes him in the head, knocking him unconscious. Piper does not even glance behind her, on her way out of the derelict building.

Prue and Phobe arrive home to the manor, after their adventure in aisle three. The pharmacist still had not figured out how every single shelf could break at the same time. "Piper, Xander?" hollers Phoebe.

"In the conservatory," a voice hollers back. A voice that sounds like her younger brother. Phoebe momentarily wondered what kind of magical mayhem befell the only male Halliwell in ten generations. She and Prue make their way to the conservatory. What they found was kind of weird, to say the least. Today had been a very weird day. Xander was sitting on the white wicker sofa reading the Book of Shadows, while wearing Piper's flowery ovenmitts. A light grey Siamese cat seemed to be resting at his side.

"Uh... Xand, why are you wearing ovenmitts?" asked Prue, trying not to snicker. Phoebe, unfortunately had no self-control and burst out laughing.

"Don't you laugh at me, Phoebe Halliwell. It's your entire fault that I'm weaing these stupid things," responded Xander, rather angrily.

"How is it my fault that you decided to become the next Julia Child?" asked Phoebe.

"You read that stupid spell, and now I can't lift my hands with out setting something on fire," he responds back, his anger waning.

"Oh, Oh, you got the fire controlling power," stated Prue.

"I've already burnt down a ficus, melted the answering machine, and singed the curtains in the living room. Every time I lift my hands, a ball of magic fire appears and doesn't disappear until I throw it somewhere," he complains. Xander removes the ovenmitts to demonstrate. He can always toss it at the other ficus. The ball of orange flames appears over his hand, ever so naturally.

"Whoa! That's so much cooler than my premonition power," stated Phoebe, as she examined the fireball.

"No! No! Not cool, Pheebs. I don't know how to control it and I'm kinda afraid of it. What if I hurt you guys or Kit," he says in a panicky tone.

"Whose Kit?" asks Phoebe.

"The cat. I found it in the house, when I came home this afternoon. Little monster scared the crap outta me, and the next thing I know, I'm Smokey the Bear's worse nightmare," he says.

"That's it. Your power is triggered by fear. When Phoebe and I were out today, we figured out that my power is tied to anger. In order for it to work, I need to get angry," explained Prue.

"Boy, was she angry," commented Phoebe.

"As I was saying, if I'm right, your power is based on fear. The cat scared you, and your power activated. And you've probably been freaked out since it happened. You just need to calm down, and the fire will go out," said Prue.

"Okay, I can do calm," said Xander, taking a deep breath. In an instant, the fire depleted. "I did it." With another wave of his hand, the fire ignited and extinguished almost instantaneously. "Oh wow," he says, truly marveling in his new gift. The loud slamming of the front door opening could be heard throughout the house.

"Prue?" called Piper, as she entered the home, and immediately bolted the door shut.

"Oh my God, what is it? What's wrong?" Prue asks, as a frantic Piper enters the room.

"Lock the doors, check the windows. We don't have a lot of time. Phoebe, in the Book Of Shadows, did it say how to get rid of a ... ," she starts to say.

"Warlock?" Phoebe finishes.

"Oh my God," mutters Xander.

Meanwhile back in the elevator where he was left unconscious, Jeremy awakens. "I'm coming for you, you bitch," he mutters.

"I'm calling the cops," says Prue.

"And tell them what? That we're witches? That some freak with powers beyond comprehension is trying to kill us? Even if the cops did come, they'd be no match for Jeremy, and we'd be next," retorts Piper, as she paces frantically.

"I found the answer. Come on," calls Phoebe, from the top of the stairs.

The four siblings reach the attic to find different magical appearal laid out on the table. A large bowl sits above the rest of the items, in the center.

"Okay, we've placed nine candles anointed with oils and spices in a circle," says Prue.

"I only count eight," says Xander.

"Oh, you forgot this one," says Phoebe, holding up a white birthday candle.

"A birthday candle?" asks Xander, an eyebrow raised.

"I guess Grams was a little low on witch supplies," remarks Phoebe, as she lights the last candle and places it in the bowl.

"Alright, we need the poppet," says Prue.

"First, I'll make it stronger," says Piper, as she pierces the wax doll with the thorns from a freshly-cut red rose. "Your love will wither and depart, from my life and my heart. Let me be, Jeremy, and go away forever. Okay the spell's complete," she says, placing the pierced doll and rose into the bowl.

"Let's hope it works," says Prue.

Phoebe then begins to clean up the supplies, when she gets a flash. She sees the warlock heading towards the manor. "Wait! It didn't work," she hollers.

"What?" asked Xander.

"The spell, it didn't work," she answers.

"How do you know?" asks Prue.

"When I touched the bowl, I had a flash. I saw Jeremy," Phoebe explains.

"You touched the bowl and you saw him?" asks Prue.

"He's on his way here," says Phoebe, her tone more frantic.

The four make it downstairs, to find Jeremy waiting at the front door. "Hello, Hello," he says, with an eerie grin on his face.

"Phoebe, Piper, get out of here," says Prue, immediately using her power to launch Jeremy against the wall.

"Cool parlor trick, bitch. Always the tough one aren't ya, Prue?" he asks, menacingly. The next thing he says gets cut off by a ball of flame connecting with his shoulder. "Aww, little brother thinks he can play with the big kids," he says, leering at Xander.

Prue throws him against the wall again, hoping to slow him down. "Come on," she says, pulling Xnader up the stairs with her. The two rejoin their sisters in the attic.

"Phoebe, you're right. Our powers are growing," says Prue.

"Put as many things as you can in front of the door," suggests Piper. Xander and Phoebe push a dresser and a chair in front of the attic door hoping to slow the monster down. They hear him reach the attic door.

"Do you think a chair and dresser will stop me?" he asks rhetorically, telekinetically moving them away from the door.

"What do we do? We're trapped," says Piper, just as the attic door explodes inward. Jeremy the warlock standing there, athame in hand, but looking kinda strained. Xander could feel the fear radiating off of himself and his sisters. This was death coming for them.

"Come on, we'll face him together. Do you remember the spirit board?" asks Prue.

The inscription on the back," says Piper, nodding her head.

"The power of four will set us free," says Prue, as a circle of demonic flame surrounds them. The four Halliwells grab each other's hands. "Come on, we gotta say it together," says Prue.

"The power of four will set us free," they repeat in tandem, as a powerful wind force fills the attic and extinguishes the circle of fire.

"I am not the only one! I am one of millions! In places you can't even imagine! In forms you would never believe! We are hell on earth!" shouts Jeremy, just before he explodes leaving nothing behind.

"The power of four," murmurs Prue, as they stare at the spot that Jeremy once stood at.

The next morning, Prue goes out onto the front porch to grab the paper, only to find Andy coming up the front walk, coffee in hand.

"Good morning," he says.

"Hey! This is a surprise," Prue responds, smiling.

"I've been feeling guilty about that bad cup of coffee. I just wanna make it up to you," he says.

"So, you brought me a good cup of coffee?" she questions him.

"Oh this? No, this is mine. I just wanted to ask you to dinner. Unless of course you're afraid," Andy says, in a serious tone.

"Afraid of what?" asks Prue.

"You know, having too good a time, stirring up old memories, rekindling an old flame," he answers.

"Good point, better not," she responds.

"Okay, Friday night, eight o'clock. You're hesitating," says Andy, noticing Prue looking a tad nervous.

"Yeah, but it's not what you think. My life has gotten complicated. Can I call you?"

He takes a card out of his wallet and hands it to her. "Take care, Prue," he says before leaving.

Bye Andy," she says, staring at him wistfully.

"It's Andy. I told you I heard a man's voice," comes the voice of her youngest sister from behind her.

"What did he want?" ask Piper.

"He asked me out," Prue answers.

"And you said...", prodded Piper.

"I started to say yes, but then I stopped. I wondered if I could date. Do witches date?" asks Prue.

"Not only do they date, but they usually get the best guys," laughs Piper.

"Or girls," says Xander, standing in the doorway, holding Kit, his newfound companion.

"You three will not be laughing when this happens to you. Everything will be different now," replies Prue.

"Well, at least our lives won't be boring," chirps Phoebe.

"But they'll never be the same," counters Prue.

"And this is a bad thing?" asks Phoebe.

"No, but it could be a big problem," says Prue.

"Prue's right. What are we gonna do?" asks Piper.

"What can't we do?" murmurs Phoebe.

"We're gonna be careful, we're gonna be wise, and we're gonna stick together," answers Prue.

"This should be interesting," says Xander, as Prue closes the front door magically.

.


	2. Chapter 2 I've Got You Under My Skin

A week had passed since the Halliwell siblings had stumbled onto their destiny, and things didn't really seem any different. Prue was still looking for work, after quitting her job at the Natural History museum. Xander had gotten a part-time job waiting tables at Quake, while Piper was the manager. Although, she had originally been hired as a line chef, things had taken a turn for the worst. Chef Moore had abruptly left to open his own restaurant, leaving Piper in a bind. The owners of the restaurant named her manager, and said nothing else. Unlike her brother and sisters, Phoebe was still fully accepting of their shared destiny. She had fully embraced the idea of being a witch.

"Oops, sorry," said Phoebe, as she dodges a customer making her way to the bar, where Piper was working.

"I'm gonna kill him," muttered Piper, stress crossing her features.

"Who?" asks Phoebe.

"Chef Moore. He, of the phony accent, hires me, and then quits to open his new place. Thank you very much," seethes Piper.

"I don't see any customers complaining, and Xan seems to be doing well as a waiter," says Phoebe, nodding to their brother, wearing a black vest and taking orders.

"Hello, I'm a chef, not a restauranteur. I have no idea what I'm doing. Are you wearing my dress?" asks Piper, just as a friend of the family's, Brittany Reynolds, approached them.

"Hey Brittany. Ooh, I love your tattoo," says Phoebe, noticing the green angel tattoo on the back of Britney's hand.

"Thanks," says Brittany.

"I thought it was illegal to get them on your hand because of the veins," says Phoebe.

"In the States yeah, but I'm got mine done in Tahiti. Keep the change, Piper. I gotta jam," says Brittany, handing money over to Piper and leaving the restaurant.

Xander comes over to join his sisters at the bar for his break. "What is going on in the world of Phoebe?" he asks, taking a seat.

"Okay, you see the poster boy to your left. Just a glance, don't be obvious," says Phoebe. Xander does a sideview glance, and nods to his sister.

"I give him my brotherly seal of approval. Who is he?' asks Xander, naturally suspicious of any random guy that interests one of his sisters, since the last new boyfriend turned out to be a warlock.

"His name is Alec, and he's about to come over and ask if he can buy me a martini," answers Phoebe, with a wide grin.

"How do you know?" asks Piper, joining the conversation.

"Let's just say I solved the age old problem of who approaches who. I had a little premonition," explains Phoebe.

"What? Phoebe, you are not supposed to use your powers. We agreed," hisses Piper.

"No, you and Prue agreed, I abstained, and Xander pretended to agree with you two, even though he is secretly on board with me," responds Phoebe. Piper turns to glare at her younger brother.

"Way to throw me under the bus, Pheebs," mutters Xander.

"That's not the point, Xan. The point is that I can't control my premonitions. They just pop into my head," says Phoebe.

"That's exactly the point. We can't control our powers. That's what scares me. I could panic and freeze the whole restaurant or Xander gets spooked and then goes to jail for arson," argues Piper.

"Shh, here he comes," says Phoebe, as Alec the poster boy approaches her.

"I was just sitting over there, and wondering if I could buy you a martini or something?" he asks.

"Martini, hmm. Imagine that. Alec right?"

"Yeah, how'd you know my name?" Alec asks.

"Wild guess. Do you wanna grab a table?" she asks.

"Yeah," he nods.

"Prue is gonna be pissed," whispers Piper, before Phoebe leaves with Alec.

"Newsflash, stop worrying. You'll get wrinkles," says Phoebe, as she goes to join Alec.

"Phoebe is a big girl, Piper," says Xander, hoping to calm down his older sister.

"Get back to work, traitor," responds Piper.

Brittany makes it to her car, and gets in. She adjusts the mirror and sees someone sitting in her backseat. They have flashing eyes and she screams.

Prue wakes up from a good night's sleep. She turns to her left to find Andy still asleep. She gets up and proceeds to pick up her clothes off the floor, only to be interrupted by Andy's alarm clock. Using her new found power, she flings the alarm clock out of the opened window to the ground below. She hastily puts her clothes on , and leaves instantly regretting what had transpired the night before.

"Prue," calls Andy, waking up and hoping to see his current lover, but she's no longer there. He also notices that his alarm clock is gone.

~Opening Credits~

Shannen Doherty as Prue Halliwell

Holly Marie Combs as Piper Halliwell

Nicholas Brendan as Xander Halliwell

and Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell

T.W. King as Andy Trudeau

Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris

Morning had come to Halliwell Manor. Piper was whisking eggs while watching a special on the History Channel. Xander was eating a slice of buttered toast, watching tv, and barely stopping to chew. They were both engrossed in the special on the Salem Witch Trials. Being a witch was still kinda scary for them, and this show was not helping them any.

"Morning," says Prue, as she enters and pours herself a cup of coffee.

"Morning," say Piper and Xander, at the same time, still engrossed in the show.

"What are you guys watching?' asked Prue.

"Nothing," says Xander, turning the tv off.

"Just a show," murmurs Piper, her mind still reeling from the images of witches burning.

"About witches? Are you two worried about being burned at the stake?' asks Prue.

"Yeah, right. By the way, Andy called," says Xander, helping himself to the coffee.

"When?" asks Prue.

"When you were in the shower," says Xander, sipping his coffee and munching on toast.

"Bad date?" asks Piper.

"No, no, no. Not at all. It was great. Dinner, movie, sex," admits Prue, her cheeks reddening, as she continues to stare into her coffee.

"Excuse me? On your first date? You sleaze," laughs Piper.

"And you call the girls I date easy," says Xander.

"The girls you date are easy, and it wasn't exactly our first date," responds Prue.

"High school doesn't count. That was last decade, before Xander could reach the countertop, so spill it," says Piper.

"It was good. We were naked, but that's beside the point. I told myself that things would be different this time. That we'd take thing slow. This just shouldn't have happened, yet," explains Prue.

"What shouldn't have happened?" asks Phoebe, coming down the stairs.

"Prue slept with Andy," says Xander, in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Hello," says Phoebe, with a whistle.

"Thanks a lot, mouth," sighs Prue.

"Wait, you were gonna tell them, and not me. Family meeting," says Phoebe.

"Speaking of last night, what time did you end up rolling in?" asks Prue, turning to her youngest sister.

"No, no, no, do not change the subject," says Phoebe, trying to steer the conversation away from her.

"It must been at least three, cause Piper and I arrived home around one," says Xander.

"I must still be on New York time," says Phoebe, with a leer at Xander.

"Actually, that would make it later," responds Prue.

"Or maybe you and Alec..." Piper started to say.

"Who's Alec?" asks Prue.

"Some hottie she hit on at the restaurant," answers Piper.

"Excuse me, he hit on me. Remember the whole vision thing?" protests Phoebe.

"Excuse me, vision thing? Please tell me that you didn't use your powers," says Prue, anger seeping nto her words. Prue looks to Piper, but she doesn't answer. She then turns to Xander. Xander could never stand up to a Prue glare. Even though he was taller and had the muscle mass, Prue was still pretty scary to him.

"Don't put me and Piper in the middle," says Xander.

"I'm not. Piper was born in the middle and you are supposed to be the sweet little brother who would never lie to me. Look, I thought we agreed," snaps Prue.

"No, we didn't. You agreed. You laid down the law. There's a difference," argues Phoebe.

"Phoebe, our powers are not toys. We have to be careful or they could get us killed," says Prue.

"She's right. We don't want any warlocks finding us," says Xander.

"Look, it was just a lousy premonition, that's all. Nobody died. Besides, you guys can't control your powers any better than I can. And FYI, nothing happened last night. At least nothing that I'm ashamed of," says Phoebe.

"There's another reason we have to be careful. Andy thinks someone's been abducting women in our area," explains Prue.

"Abducting women? What do you mean?" asks Phoebe.

"I mean warlocks aren't the only evil we have to watch out for. And FYI, I'm not ashamed of anything," responds Prue.

At the San Francisco Police Department, Andy and Darryl were going over the facts of the missing women case. Andy was studying a picture of Brittany Reynolds, while Darryl interviewed Brittany's live-in boyfriend, Max, who was obviously distraught.

"She didn't come home last night. That's not like Brittany, believe me," says Max.

"Tell me Max, what time did she leave for Quake?" asks Darryl.

"Eight-thirty and she called at ten to say that she was on her way home, and I'm really worried," he answers.

"Chances are that she'll show up. Usually do. The best thing you can do right now, is to go home and see if she called," says Andy.

"Alright, thanks," says Max, as he leaves.

"Fourth one this week," mutters Andy.

"Yeah, but they can't be disappearing into thin air," says Darryl.

"At least, we narrowed his feeding pool down to the area around the restaurant," says Andy.

"Yeah, well better tell your sweetie to lock her door at night," says Darryl.

Piper and Xander had stopped by the local church before heading to work. All they could think about was what they saw on that documentary. Being witches was still new to them, and the thought of being persecuted like that frightened them. They continued to watch the church from the jeep.

"We're not gonna be tried as witches," says Xander, with a tone of uncertainty lacing his voice.

"Right," murmurs Piper. A knock on Piper's window draws them out of their revery. Xander's hand immediately ignited. "Put it out," hissed Piper. His fireball dies out, as she rolls down the window. "Pastor Williams, you scared us," says Piper, with a tense smile.

"I'm sorry. Aren't you two here a little early dropping of the unused food from the restaurant? I thought you weren't coming by until this afternoon" asks Pastor Williams.

"We are. I mean, we're coming back with everything later," says Piper.

"Great. So what are you doing here now?" asks Pastor Williams.

"Nothing really. Just uh thinking," answers Xander.

About?" asks the good pastor.

"Mary Estee," Piper admits, referring to one of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials.

"Who?" he asks.

"It's just this stupid doocumentary we saw. By the way, is it true that evil beings can't go inside a church without being...," says Xander, using his hands to simulate lightning striking causing his sister and the pastor to laugh.

"Evil beings? You mean like what? Vampires?" asks Pastor Williams.

"Vampires, no. We were thinking more along the lines of witches," answeres Piper.

"Witches huh? Let me put it this way, I wouldn't wanna risk it. Gotta go, but I'll see you two later," says Pastor Williams, waving as he leaves them.

"We can do this," says Xander, grabbing his big sister's hand as they exit the jeep.

"Yeah. Right. Absolutely," she says, as they walk up the cement steps. They both grab ahold of the old iron handles on the wooden doors of the church. Just as they're about to go in, there's a flash of lightning. Scared out of their minds, they break into a fast run to the jeep.

While Piper and Xander were having their freakout, Prue was waiting to be interviewed for a new job. It wasn't her dream job, but still, being a specialist at Buckland's Auction House would give her a chance to use her art history degree and give her a steady income. "Hold the door," she yells, rushing towards the elevator with her files in hand. She makes it ito the elevator, but ends up dropping her briefcase, her files scattering. "Damn it. Can you push twelve please?" she asks the gentleman, who was the only other person in the elevator.

After he pushes the plastic button, the man bends down to help her gather her papers. "Here let me help," he says. "Eighteenth century French art. Do you work in the auction house upstairs?" he asks in a suave British accent.

"No, just interviewing, if I ever get there," answers Prue, just as her cell phone begins to ring. "Hello? Uh Andy, how did you get this number?" she asks in a hushed tone.

"Prue, I think we should talk," says Andy, immediately cutting her off.

"Yeah, it's just that I'm really late for this interview," Prue says, trying to get him to hangu up.

"I didn't mean for what happened last night to happen. You have to know that, Prue," says Andy.

"Of course, I'm you know, totally wrong for it anyway, stuffy old auction house. I don't even know why they called," says Prue, trying to stray from the topic at hand.

"Come on, Prue. Listen to me. We've known each other a long time . We just couldn't help ourselves. It's nothing to be ashamed of," says Andy, trying to defend their actions.

"I know, Andy," says Prue.

"All we did was make love," he responds.

"I know, Andy," she acknowledges in a hushed tone.

"Talk to me. Help me out here, Prue. Why did you sneak out like that?" asks Andy.

"I did not sneak out. You were asleep and I didn't wanna wake you. And I did write a not, you know. I just didn't leave it," she hisses into the phone. She hears a crackling noise making her realize she just lost reception. The man to her left didn't say a word.

"Here you go," says Phoebe, handing the menu to the familiar looking guy and his date. She's covering Xander's tables while he helps the shorthanded dishwashers.

"Thank you," says the man in a sophisticated tone.

"Excuse me, but aren't you Stefan?" she asks, once she realizes where she knows him from. It turns out that the man is a famous fashion photographer,

"Yes. I'm sorry, do we know each other?" responds the now-named Stefan.

"Oh, highly doubtful, but I'm familiar with your work. Like everyone else in the world," says Phoebe.

"Well, I don't know about that, but, I will take a compliment from a beautiful woman," he says, with a smile that made Phoebe melt, until she saw the severe look the photographer's date was giving her.

"I'm sure your girlfriend appreciates it," says Phoebe, motioning towards the angry-looking beauty.

"She's not my girlfriend," whispers Stefan.

"Then, why are you whispering?" Phoebe whispers back.

"Excuse me," huffs the woman, as she leaves the table.

"Ooh, Ooh, okay. Well, it was nice meeting you," says Phoebe, as she turns to leave.

"You too. Listen, I'm in town for a couple of days doing a shoot. If you're interested, I'd love to shoot you. You do model, don't you?" he says.

"Only in my dreams, yeah," says Phoebe, her voice taking on a giggly tone. He hands her a card with his address and number on it. She smiles, and immediately heads over to Piper to tell her about what just happened.

"A driver called in sick. Can you make a quick delivery?" asks Piper, looking a little harried and harassed.

"Sure. Is that guy at the bar still staring at me?" asks Phoebe.

"There are a lot of guys at the bar, staring at you," says Piper.

"The one at the far end. Tall, dark, brooding, very New York," responds Phoebe.

"Sorry, no," says Piper, with a shake of head. Phoebe turns around to find Stefan gone, leaving her rather disappointed.

Meanwhile, in an old warehouse, set up as a photography studio, the woman, who had previously been at Quake, is lying strapped to a table, crying.

"Let me go. Please Stefan," she cries. The scuffling of feet against the floor reveal the photographer, except for one thing. He looked liked he had aged about a century in the span of an hour. His eyes glowing a menacing bright red.

"Not Stefan. It's Javna," growls the gnarled man. His eyes flash, shooting some type of beam from them into the crying woman's. The once beautiful woman rapidly ages leaving nothing more than a geriatric, while Stefan becomes his previously handsome self.

"Are you ready?" asks the receptionist at Buckland's.

"Yeah," said Prue, taking a deep breath and pulling herself together. She enteres the office to find a relatively young man standing at the desk. Prue immediately realizes that it is the same man who overheard her conversation with Andy in the elevator.

"Rex Buckland, this is Prue Halliwell, interviewing for the new specialist position," says the receptionist.

"Actually, we've met. Welcome to my stuffy auction house," he says with a smile. Prue looks somewhat abashed.

"How many divisions did you correct? " he asks, beginning the interview process.

"Seven, including the colonist estate. It should be on my resume," she answers.

"Franklin Carlton. That's quite a coup," Rex says, acknowledging her skills.

"Well, I tend to be on the persistent side. I usually get what I want," Prue says, with a smirk.

"A no doubter. It's a shame though that you think you're... how did you put it in the elevator? Totally wrong for the job," he comments, off-handedly.

"That was a private phone conversation," she says.

"Hardly."

"You called me, remember. Not the other way around. And while we're at it, I think it's incredibly unfair that you eavesdrop on a private call and then you judge me based entirely on what you thought you heard," she rants, feeling rather offended by this man.

"I apologize. It was unfair of me. I'm new to all of this. I've only just taken over the house from my father, so I'm very protective of it. But knowing that, what you did at the museum, attracting the younger market, it's totally consistent with what I want to do here. It's just when all these qualifications are signed, it's very important to me that whoever I hire, truly wants to be here," Rex explains, in a earnest manner before being interrupted by his intercom. "Yes?"

"Excuse me, Mr. Buckland. Your next interview is waiting. Should I reschedule him?" asks the receptionist.

"No, I think we're done here," he answers, all the while looking at Prue.

"Well, thanks for your time," she says, heading for the door before stopping and turning around."My area of expertise ranges from Ming Dynasty to a Mark McGuire rookie baseball card. You name it - I can identify it. Now, I may not have sought out this job originally, but I do want it. And I am definitely right for it," Prue says, before leaving.

Piper, Xander, and Phoebe arrived at the church to hand out the food. Piper and Xander, still apprehensive, about being anywhere near a church, just listened to Phoebe yammer on, while they continued to pull the food out of the van.

"You would think that after last night, Prue would be a lot mellower. I mean, how long had it been? Six months? Which is worse," says Phoebe.

"It's just so un-Prue like to have sex on the first date. I mean, everything's changing since we've become... you know," says Piper, as she stacks boxes of food for Xander to carry.

"Why are talking about Prue's sex life? I, as the baby brother, should not be subjugated to this torture," says Xander.

"Well Xan, you have to admit we've always been closer than most siblings. I think it has to do with the fact that Mom died and Dad left, so we really only had each other and Grams in a time of need," says Piper.

"Yeah, yeah," he mutters.

"As I was saying, you've never had sex on a first date?" asks Phoebe, with a lingering leer at her brother and sister.

"I have, but not all the time, besides I'm seeing this waitress from the restaurant right now, and I rather not divulge personal information," says Xander, honestly, even though he was still uncomfortable sharing his sex life with his big sisters.

"No, have you? Wait, don't answer that, and which waitress?" says Piper, wondering which of the waitresses her brother would go for.

"Skye Russell. We met up for coffee after the late shift the other night, and we went back to her place," answers Xander, thinking about the pretty blonde waitress.

"I'm not sure how I feel about one of my waitresses doing that with my baby brother," respond Piper, emphasizing the word "that".

"Well, now that I'm a witch, I can see if it's gonna be any good or not, before it actually...," Phoebe starts to say, before being interrupted by an elderly man waiting for food. "Hi," she says, handing him a food tray, before he walks away

"What's the matter with you? Are you out of your mind?" Piper and Xander both ask, at the same time.

"Come on. It's not like he took me literally," huffs Phoebe.

"You don't know that, he could of. I just think we need to be extra careful. In bed and out," says Piper, in a cautious tone.

"Okay, well there's careful and then there's paranoid. Do you wanna talk about it?" asks Phoebe, obviously referring to Piper's warlock ex, Jeremy.

"Talk about what?" asks Piper, in an "I don't wanna talk about it" tone of voice.

"Hey, Phoebe, I didn't know you were back in town," says Pastor Williams, as he comes to join the siblings.

"Hey," says Phoebe, with a smile, as she gives him a hug.

"Say goodbye to the Big Apple did you?" asks the pastor.

"Oh, I ate the worm. Hey, I'm gonna go get some gum. Do you guys want anything?" she asks her siblings.

"No thanks," says Xander, while Piper just shakes her head.

"Okay, good to see you," Phoebe says to Pastor Williams.

"You too.," he says, as Phoebe begins her trek down to the corner mart.

"Okay, here's the deal. Xander and I have this friend. Has a little problem. Could be bad. Not quite sure what to tell her," says Piper, as she tries to approach the topic of witches again.

"You wanna go inside?" he asks the pair of siblings.

"No. I mean, We've gotta get going, right Piper?" says Xander, rather loudly causing the people that were receiving food to look at him strangely.

"So what's the problem?" asks the kind pastor.

"Well, she kinda, sort of thinks she might be a witch," answers Piper.

"Witches again, huh?" asks Pastor Williams, grinning.

"Not a good thing is it?" asks Xander, nervously, his skin starting to crawl.

"Certainly not a question I get everyday. How well do you remember Sunday school lessons? I suggest 22:18. Thou shall not suffer a witch to live," answers Pastor Williams.

"Meaning what?" asks Piper.

"If you go by the old school, it means put them to death. They're evil," explains Pastor Williams. This makes the brother and sister's skin crawl, and seemed to reinforce the belief that they might be evil.

Phoebe stood in line holding a magazine and a pack of gum. She places the items on the counter, and waits to pay.

"$3.52.," says the cashier.

"Here you go," she says handing over the money. The elderly gentleman behind looks at her with a smile. She sees that he's holding onto a set of lottery tickets.

"Should be used on the grandchildren's birthdays. It's a ten million dollar jackpot. Who knows? I mean, today may be our lucky day. If not, we're gonna lose our house," says the old man, in a kind voice. Phoebe smiles, as her arm briefly touches one of the tickets. She gasps as she sees a flash of the lottery drawing. She smiles.

"4, 16, 19, 30, 32 and 40. Those are the winning numbers," she says, with the upmost certainty.

"Yeah, yeah, right lady. You want this stuff or don't you?" mutters the cashier, gesturing at the magazine and gum.

"4, 16, 19, 30, 32 and 40. Trust me, mister. Today is your lucky day," Phoebe says to the old man. "And I think I'll buy one of these lottery tickets too."

Back at the church, Piper and Xander are waiting quietly in the car for the return of their sister. They hadn't said anything since the talk with Pastor Williams. Both of their minds reeling from the conversation. Phoebe hops into the van, a smile adorning her face.

"Ready? Let's go," said Phoebe, smiling away.

"What are you smiling about?" asks Piper, suspicious of her sister's sudden good mood.

"Nothing," says Phoebe. Xander doesn't say anything, but he knows that Phoebe probably did something that Prue and Piper would never approve of.

Outside of Quake, Andy and Darryl sit in their squadcar waiting. They know that the creep abducting that was abducting women was using the trendy restaurant as a feeding ground. Now, all they could do was wait, and hope they could catch the guy before another woman vanished into thin air.

"What do you want me to say? This does not feel right to me about this, I can't help it," says Andy, in a sincere tone.

"Here we go again," his partner sighes, knowing that Andy was going to go off on another freaky tangent.

"I mean, where are they, alright? What's this guy doing to these poor women?" Andy asks.

"Thinking alien abduction are ya?" Darryl chuckles.

"I'm serious, Morris," responds Andy, his eyes blazing.

"I know, that's what scares me. Let me guess, favorite movie when growing up - Ghostbusters? Look, we got a crazy, Trudeau. Likes the pretty ladies. That's it, the end. If he goes back looking make the world a safer place. That too hard to follow?" argues Darryl, trying to stay away from the weirdness that Andy seemed to believe in so fervantly.

"Evil Dead II. Favorite movie growing up. Just for the record," responds Andy, sarcastically, as he sees a familiar car park in Quake's lot, and Prue get out of it and head for the restaurant.

"Bank across the street, I think we should grab the ATM tapes and see if...," Darryl starts to say, but is cut off by Andy's sudden exiting of the squadcar. "Whoa, whoa, where are going? No, no, forget it Romeo. You're not blowing our cover."

"Come on, Morris. Cut me some slack. I have to talk to her. Please? Five minutes, that's all I need," requests Andy, wanting to finally be able to talk to Prue, since their last converation got cut short.

Inside Quake, Piper is trying to run a kitchen with Xander assisting her. She hated this job, but unfortunately she needs the money.

"Cindy, come on, your salmon's up. Hector, way behind. We need clean plates," she says, trying to speed up the servers.

"Either of you give Andy my cell phone number by any chance?" asks Prue, as she approaches her working siblings.

"No, why?" asks Piper

"Wasn't me, Sis," says Xander, as he hands a large batch of orders to Piper.

"Never mind," mutters Prue, figuring that Phoebe probably gave him her number.

"Remind me I wanted to do this for a living, right?" asks a scatterbrained Piper, sweat glistening off her her face.

"Just think of the funny green paper and the plastic cards that buy us things," responds an equally harassed looking Xander, setting up a full tray for pickup.

"Looks like you're the only two of us who's going to be doing anything for a living. Look how badly my interview went," says Prue.

"I can't imagine you were less then stellar," says Piper.

"Yeah, you deserve that job, Prue," says Xander, while Prue's eyes wander over to a private table where Phoebe is sitting with a very good looking guy, and wearing a very expensive-looking dress.

"What's Phoebe doing here?" she asks her brother and sister.

"Flirting," Piper and Xander answer simultaneously, sparing Phoebe only a slight glance.

"Yeah, and she's wearing Armani. Where did she get that?" asks Prue, suspicion written all over her face.

"Not from my closet. We gotta get back to work," says Piper, pulling Xander back into the kitchen. Prue walks over to the table where her youngest sister and the dark-haired man are sitting rather close.

"Prue, hi. This is my other sister. Prue, this is Stefan the photographer," says Phoebe, with a wide grin.

"Pleasure," Stefan says, reaching for Prue's hand.

"Likewise," says Prue, shaking Stefan's hand. "Nice dress."

"Don't worry, it's not yours," says Phoebe, trying to assuage Prue of any wrongdoing she may or may not have done.

"I know. I could never afford it," says Prue, glaring at her baby sister.

"Will you excuse me for one minute? I'll be right back," Phoebe says to Stefan, leading Prue back towards the kitchen. Neither one notices that Stefan's hand starts to age.

"How are you gonna pay for that? You're broke," asks Prue, as soon as they enter the kitchen.

"Not for long," Phoebe answers, without really giving an answer.

"What does that mean? You didn't use your powers again?" asks Prue, an accusatory air lingering.

"Maybe. Are you telling me you haven't?" retorts Phoebe.

"No, I'm not telling you that but we're not talking about me are we?" Piper and Xander approach their sisters, holding out a sliver of hope that they aren't arguing again.

"What are you guys doing in here?" asks Piper, apprehensively.

"Same thing we do at home," responds Phoebe, her arms crossed.

"What, did you go to the tracks, play the market, what?" asks Prue, her voice rising an octave.

"The lottery," answers Phoebe, succumbing to the stares from her siblings.

"Phoebe!" hisses Piper.

"What did you want me to do? Ignore the premonition? Not help a needy family. That's what we're supposed to do, right?" asks Phoebe, in a rhetorical manner.

"No, we are not supposed to use our powers for our own personal gain. That's what it says in the Book of Shadows," responds Prue.

.

Uh guys, not so loud," says Xander, quietly.

"You said we needed money, right? Well, I'm getting some," says Phoebe, defending her actions.

"Come on, you guys," says Xander, once again trying to calm down his older sisters.

"Well, get a job like everybody else," suggests Prue, disregarding Piper and Xander for a moment.

"I'm using my mind instead," sniffs Phoebe. A second later Andy enetsr the kitchen looking for Prue, and ends up bumping to a waiter with a large tray of plates. The tray ends up alling to the ground, or it would have, had Piper not been there.

"Watch it!" shouts Piper, her hands immediately going up and freezing the scene, and successfully stopping the plates from hitting the ground. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no, not again," she moans.

"Now look what you've done," says Prue, pointing the finger of blame onto Phoebe.

"This is my fault?" Phoebe questions.

"You guys aren't freezing?" says Piper, curiously.

"I guess it doesn't work on witches. Piper, how long does it last?" asks Xander. Prue looks outside the kitchen door and finds that the entire restaurant is still in motion.

"I don't know, not long," Piper answers weakly.

"Uh, it doesn't work out there either," says Prue, pulling her head back into the kitchen.

"Oh, tell me this isn't happening." Panic sets into Piper's being. Xander tries to soothe his older sister.

"Calm down, it's okay. It's all gonna be okay," he says, although not really believing himself. Prue looks out the kitchen door again, only to find Darryl coming through the front door and heading towards the kitchen.

"Oh, God, Andy's partner just came in and he's headed this way," says Prue.

"What are we gonna do?" asks a frantic Piper, on the verge of a mental breakdown.

"Stall him," Phoebe directs her eldest sister. Prue runs out of the kitche and straight into Darryl.

"Hey, Inspector Morris, right?" she says.

"That's right. Is Trudeau in there? " he asks.

"Uh, Andy? I don't know is he?"

Back in the frozen kitchen, Phoebe is fanning Piper with a menu, while Xander continues to try and calm her down, to no avail.

"Okay, breathe, Piper, breathe," he says, even though on the inside he is having a major panic attack. A second later Darryl opens the kitchen door, with Prue trailing behind, having failed in stopping him. Piper's freeze immediately wears off, and the plates come crashing to the tile floor.

"I really think we should talk," the now unfrozen Andy says, before noticing Darryl standing there."What are you doing here? I thought I had five minutes."

"Yeah, I gave you ten," responds Darryl

"Guys, you know, we're really busy in here," says Piper.

"Yeah, sure," says Andy, even though it is obvious that he does not want to leave yet.

"Uh, I'll call you later, I promise," says Prue, with a rather tense smile.

"Okay," he nods. He and Darryl head for the kitchen door, as Prue watches with a longing in her eyes.

"I hate being a witch," seethes Piper, the stress of the afternoon and dealing with thoughts of being struck down when ever, weighing heavily on her mind.

"Not crazy about it either," agrees Xander. His mind kept going back to the images from the television program, the ones that prominantly featured burning and torturing witches.

Back at the manor, Xander and Piper sequestered themselves into the attic. They both had a lot of thinking to do, and with the information provided by the Book of Shadows, currently resting in Xander's lap.

"We're really screwed, aren't we?" Xander asks his older sister.

"Yeppers," she nods, with a grim look crossing her features.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" asks Phoebe, upon enetring the attic, and spying the Book of Shadows in her brother's posssession.

"Reading. Thinking," Xander and Piper say at the same time.

"About what?" asks Phoebe, wondering what's got both of her siblings down at the same time.

"About how totally screwed we are now that we're witches," Xander answers.

"Oh, that," she responds.

"You don't understand, you don't think we are. You're never afraid of anything. I envy that about you, I always have," says Piper, earnestlly, while Xander nods in agreement with her.

"Yeah, well, don't because it gets me in trouble sometimes. Come on guys, talk to me," Phoebe says.

"I don't know, it's like our whole lives have been like everybody else. Rushing off to work, going out on bad dates, buying shoes and suddenly we wake up one day and everything is different. We're witches now. And Xan and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing," Piper admits.

"Are you kidding? It's a great thing!" exclaims Phoebe.

"You don't know that. We don't know anything about these powers. Why we have them, what they mean, where they come from. I mean, how do we know it's not... how do we know it's not from evil?" counters Xander.

" Xander, Piper, we've been through this. We're good witches," Phoebe says.

"What about Jeremy? What about all the other warlocks he said would be coming after us. How do we know we're not just like them? That is what scares me. We don't know. I just wanna be normal again. As messed up as that was. Is that too much to ask for?" says Piper, on the verge of tears.

"I wanna go back to being just Xander. I don't wanna have to worry about burning down the house everytime I watch a scary movie or get thrown a surprsie party. And another thing, why give me a fire power cause fire makes me think of hell," Xander rants.

"Guys, listen to me. You are the sweetest person, Piper, and Xander's the most caring person I've ever met. No, I mean that, you two are. You're always there to help anybody, even strangers. You've been doing it your whole lives. So there's no way we've been given these, these gifts if it wasn't to do good things with them. To protect the innocent just like the Book of Shadows said. Besides, if anyone is concerned of being bad, it's me, right? You've got nothing to be afraid of. And now, I am going to get my picture taken," she says, giving them a little fashion pose and twirl before leaving them alone to think.

"I think we should go to church," says Piper, turning towards her brother.

"I'm with you all the way," responds Xander.

At Quake, Prue and Andy are having coffee, and sitting in silence. Prue is unsure of what to say. She had been avoiding Andy for the last day, and she wasn't sure on how she wanted to handle things with him yet.

"I'm not sorry it happened, Prue," Andy finally speaks up.

"Well, I have to be honest with you, Andy, I am. I mean, not because I didn't enjoy it, I did. Especially the, um...," she starts, her face reddening.

"Yeah, that was great," he agrees.

"Yeah, but, you know, that's not the point, it's... I haven't seen you in almost seven years. Just starting right back where we left off is..." she says, not sure of where exactly she is going with this.

"I know, I know, believe me. I just wanna know why you left, that's all. Why can't you tell me? What's the big secret?" Andy asks, taking ahold of her hand.

"Believe me, you don't wanna know," she responds, still not wanting to reveal the family secret.

"Try me," he says.

"Well, my life, it's gotten a little complicated and I just don't think that I should get involved in anything right now," Prue tries to explain.

"Prue, we had sex. It doesn't mean we have to elope. Okay, about this, why don't we just pretend it never happened?" Andy asks.

"Do you want me to toss you a life preserver now, or just let you sink on your own?" she asks, causing him to laugh.

"No, no, I'm serious. Why don't you just count that one as part of our old relationship and we'll slow down, we'll start another. Prue, we've been given a second chance here, I don't wanna blow it this time," Andy says, just as his pager beeps and Prue's cell phone rings.

"Hello? Uh, yeah, absolutely, I'm sure I can make that. Okay, thanks," Prue says to the person who called her. After she ended the call, she turns back to Andy. "Uh, just give me a little time to think things over, okay?" she says, getting up from the table and leaving the restauarant and Andy behind.

At the church, Piper and Xander are sitting Piper's jeep. Both looking rather nervous, but seemingly calmer than before.

"We can do this," says Xander, taking a deep breath, stepping out of the vehicle.

"We have nothing to be afraid of. We have nothing to be afraid of," Piper repeats, holding onto Xander's hand for support. They both walk up the cement steps, reaching for the iron doorhandles. They pull the wooden doors open, and each cautiously poke a foot inside of the church, and nothing happens. They gingerly step inside, smiles in place.

Xander then, pulls Piper into a hug. "We're good," he says happily.

"Definitely good," she says back. They go to leave the church, only to run smack dab into an elderly woman with curly grey hair. Piper momentarily glances down while Xander apologizes to the old woman, and notices a familiar-looking green angel tattoo on the back of the woman's hand.

"Brittany?" she says.

"You know me? Is that my name?" asks the old woman, with hope in her eyes.

"Prue, thanls for coming back in," says Rex Buckland, shaking her hand.

"Well, thanks for having me back, although I must say I didn't expect it," she says.

"I told you I was interested and I am. But first of all I decided to test your expertise if you don't mind. See how good you really are. This is Hannah Webster, one of our assistant specialists," he says motioning to the woman with her curly blonde-brown hair pulled into a bun on top of her head. Prue shakes the now-identified Hannah's hand.

"Nice to meet you," says Prue,

"Please, tell us about this piece," says Rex, motioning to the painting that Hannah set up.

"Well, Madonna of the Meadow, Giovanni Bellini, 16th century, a fabulous piece. Worth three or four million if it wasn't a copy," says Prue, feeling in her element.

"What makes you think this is a copy?" asks Hannah.

"Too well preserved, no yellowing. Besides, the frame support is in pine and Italian painters used poplar back then," responds Prue.

"Um, what about this one?" asks Rex, motioning towards a sculpture on display.

"Degas. Actually, this was the only sculpture that he exhibited himself," she answers, not noticing Hannah purposefully bumping into a stepladder holding a large opened cannister of white paint.

"Watch out!" hollers Rex, as the paint comes down in full force. Prue, immediately throws her hands up in her defense, using her power, to move the paint, which conveniantly hits Hannah's pumps.

"Are you okay?" asks Rex.

"Yeah" says Prue, nodding happily, as it seems that Rex and Hannah completely missed her using her telekinesis.

"You sure? I'm sorry, I can't believe that happened," says Rex.

"It's okay," Prue reaffirms.

"Well, uh, I really don't know what to say, except you're hired, if you still want the job," says Rex.

"Are you serious?" asks Prue.

"Can you start Monday?" asks Rex.

"Yeah, absolutely," she answers.

"Terrific. It's done then. Yeah, we can sort out the details when you come in. In the mean time, welcome aboard," he says, shaking her hand.

"Thanks. Bye," says Prue, with a smile, as she exits the office.

"Well, what do you think?" asks Rex.

"I think she's either the luckiest woman alive or she's a witch," answers Hannah, with a devious grin acrossed her face.

Prue arrives home twenty minutes later, bursting with excitement. She is so happy, that something is finally going her way.

"Piper? Phoebe? Xander? Guess what?" she hollers, as she enters the manor. She is stunned to find an elderly woman there.

"What?" asks the old woman, in response to her question. Piper arrives from the question holding a bowl of soup.

"Prue, thank God you're home," says Piper, with a relieved look.

"Yeah, who, uh... ," Prue starts to ask.

"Here you go, Brittany. Why don't you go sit down at the table, okay? There you go." says Piper, handing the woman the bowl of steamy soup.

"Um, sorry, Brittany?" asks Prue, obviously confused.

"You're not gonna believe this. I'm not sure I do. I think... no, I know, this woman is Brittany Reynolds," says Piper.

"Yeah, right, Piper and I'm Rosie O'Donnell," laughs Prue.

"No, I mean it. Brittany had a tattoo, right? An angel on her hand, remember?" says Piper, pointing at the noticeable tatoo on Old Britt's hand.

"That can't be," murmurs Prue.

"That's what I thought at first but then I started asking her some questions. Things only Brittany would know. She may be senile but it was enough to convince me. So I had Xan go and check the Book of Shadows for whatever could have done this," explains Piper.

Phoebe arrives at Stefan's warehouse rady for her big break. She makes it to the door, and knocks.

"Stefan, it's me, Phoebe," she yells through the steel door. She touches the handle and gets a flash of herself strapped to a table, and an ancient-looking warlock hovering over her with glowing eyes. She immediately runs back to the van, but as soon as she gets in, someone grabs her.

"Xander, what did you find?" asks Prue.

"Javna feeds one week out of every year, stealing the life force from the young," he says showing his sisters the page he found.

"By evoking the black magic power of the evil eye to sustain eternal youth," reads Prue.

"It's gotta be what happened to Brittany," surmises Piper.

"Yeah, but there must be some kind of incantation to reverse it," says Prue.

"There is. The Hand of Fatima. It says that the Prophet Mohammad created it centuries ago to banish Javna back to where ever the hell he came from," says Xander, pointing to the page opposite the Javna page.

"Yeah, well, the problem is we don't know who Javna is, let alone where he is," says Prue, just as a loud thud resonates through the house.

"Brittany? Oh my God, what happened?" asks Piper, as they find Brittany passed out on the kitchen floor, something clutched tightly in her hand.

"Brittany, are you alright?" asks Prue.

"I'll call 911," says Piper, reaching for the cordless.

"And tell them what? That she's dying of old age at 25? What is this?" Prue asks holding up a white piece of paper.

"It's a cocktail napkin from the restaurant. With Stefan's address on the back," answers Piper.

"Javna," moans Brittany.

"Prue, that's where Phoebe went," says Xander, with a feeling of dread forming in the pit of stomach.

"Wait, Stefan or whoever you are, let me go," begs Phoebe.

"It's Javna," says the withered old crone, as he appears, his eyes glowing a menacing red.

"Piper, that's the van from Quake," says Xander, pointing. Prue stops the car, and the three get out.

"Do you see anything?" asks Prue.

"No. Prue...," answers Piper.

"Look, we'll find her," says Xander.

"Maybe we should call the police," suggests Piper.

"No, if Javna has her then we're the only ones who can stop him," says Prue.

"But we need Phoebe to do it. The incantation only work with the four of us," says Piper, only to interrupted by a familiar scream. They threesome rushes inside the warehouse to find a very old warlock firing some kind of beam from his eyes into Phoebe's. Xander throws a fireball at the demon's back, and Prue flings him into a far wall.

"Phoebe, we don't have a lot of time, okay?" says Piper, as she unties Phoebe and tries to steady her.

"Prue, grab the mirror," says Phoebe, pointing at a small hand mirror on the table. Prue grabs a mirror and puts it in front of her face and reflects the light back into Javna's eyes.

"Now," says Prue, signaling the others to start chanting the spell.

"Evil eyes look unto thee,

may they soon extinguish forevermore,

bend thy will to the Power of Four,

eye of earth, evil and accursed."

Javna shoots his beam at the siblings, only for it to be reflected back at him. He soon turns into a skeleton, and then into dust.

"Very cool," says Phoebe and Xander together. They then exit the warehouse to find the police arriving led by one Inspector Andy Trudeau.

"Prue? What are you doing here?" he asks.

"Well, we were just trying to get the van started," says Xander.

"Yeah, Phoebe called. She was having car troubles," says Piper.

"Stefan was gonna take some pictures of me, but he never showed," says Phoebe.

"Do you have any idea how lucky you are? This guy's a stalker," says Andy, a little disturbed that his sorta girlfriend was here at a crime scene.

"No sign of him inside. His car's here so he might still be around," says Darryl.

"Excuse me," says Andy, reaching into the van and starting it.

"Hey, how about that. You fixed it!" exclaimes Piper.

"How about that," says Andy, suspicious about what exactly was going on here.

"Maybe we should go," suggests Xander, leading Phoebe and Piper away, leaving Prue with Andy.

"Uh, thanks. Call me?" asks Prue.

"Sure," he says, figuring that whatever just happened had to do with this big secret Prue and her siblings share.

Once again, the Halliwell four are meeting at Quake. Prue, Piper, and Xander are having drinks at the bar, just as Phoebe enters.

"Whoops, excuse me," she says, immediately recognizing the woman she bumped into as Stefan's date from the other night. "How are you?" she asks. The beautiful woman just stares at her oddly, before walking. Brushing that aside, Phoebe goes to join the others.

"Do you know that girl?" asks Piper.

"I almost was that girl. She was one of Stefan's victims. Obviously doesn't remember," explains Phoebe.

"Lucky her," says Prue.

"No, lucky me. I learned my lesson. I have got to be more careful," says Phoebe.

"Excuse me, did I just hear it? Did she actually admit to doing something wrong?" asks Xander, in mock shock.

"That's what I heard," says Piper.

"Frame it. It won't happen again," laughs Phoebe.

"At least we helped those people. I mean, it's nice we know our powers really are good," says Piper, sharong a knowing glance with Xander.

"Yeah, good for everything but love lives unfortunately. Although I must admit they do come in handy once in a while," says Prue.

"I can use mine to light fireworks on the Fourth of July," jokes Xander.

"Uh huh. Hypocrites," says Phoebe, as she watches the lottery drawing on tv "The winning numbers. I've won," she says, pulling out her ticket only for the numbers to disappear.

"See, I told you. You can't intentionally use your powers for your own personal gain, remember?" gloats Prue, with a smile.

"It's a good thing I didn't take the tags off that dress. Oh, well. At least that old couple didn't lose their house," says Phoebe, with a smile.

"A toast to the power of four. Whether we like it or not," says Xander, holding up his club soda.


End file.
